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The Original Modern Lovers

Okay, I’m being a completist here as I have most of these tracks on various Richman comps but I had to buy this CD when I saw it. It’s billed as the original band with tracks recorded in session with Kim Fowley in 1972. But as Richman himself says in the notes, that wasn’t the original lineup and a lot of the tracks are from a later session.

Whatever, you get great performances of ‘Road Runner’, ‘She Cracked’, ‘Girlfren’ and other Richman classics. Can you imagine writing a song as insanely brilliant as ‘Road Runner’ when you’re only 18? If you haven’t got any Jonathan Richman, this perhaps isn’t the best intro to the breadth of his work but for me it’s a must-have album, crackling with energy and thumping, cranking geetars. Buy this album if you love simple, open pop songs. Don’t buy it if you’re looking for Yes-like layers of mystical shite.